Serbian president Aleksandar Vučić said Saturday that he plans to ask NATO to allow Serbian defense forces and police into Kosovo. This is reported by the Reuters news agency.

Vučić said at a press conference in Belgrade that he intends to ask the commander of NATO’s KFOR peacekeeping mission in Kosovo about it in a letter. He said he doesn’t think the request will go through.

According to Vučić, the Serbian administration intends to request permission “to send Serbian military and police authorities to the regions of Kosovo and Metohija”. Metohija is located in the southwestern parts of Kosovo.

Vučić said the Serbian government would formally accept the letter on Monday or Tuesday.

At issue it would be the first time that the Serbian regime would ask NATO to allow its troops into Kosovo since the 1998-1999 war.

According to the UN Security Council resolution, Serbia can, with the permission of the KFOR commander, send up to a thousand army, police and customs officials to the specified areas. Such areas include Orthodox religious places, Serb-majority areas and border crossings.

of Kosovo there have been several incidents between the authorities and the Serb population in the northern parts of the country in recent months. Although the majority of Kosovo’s population is Albanian, Serbs form the majority in the northern parts of the country.

Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Kosovo’s independence has been recognized by about a hundred countries, including Finland. Serbia has not recognized Kosovo’s independence.